H O M E A N D R E A L E S TAT E
Michael B. Bell recounts key takeaways from his past 20 years as one of the most respected agents in the United States and outlines important steps homeowners and agents should take when looking to sell a house. “It’s going to be a surprising read for people,” Bell ex-
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Michael B. Bell shares common mistakes when selling a home
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By Luke Netzley
ne of the most important decisions someone can make is to move from their home to somewhere new. A house is the haven waiting patiently after a long day, a place to host friends or even raise a family. Though selling a house can be an exciting process for buyer, seller and agent, many of the practices that
residential real estate brokers have accepted as industry standards have been found to actually hurt the homeowner’s chances of selling their house. In his book “Seller Mistakes: What You Were Never Told About Selling Your Home and Why It Should Matter to You,” Pasadenabased residential real estate broker
plains. “There are real estate customs that are ingrained in the public’s mind, that you have to do certain things to sell a house. Unfortunately, most of those are continuously promoted by our industry because those customs benefit the Realtor more than the seller.” Born and raised in La Cañada, Bell was introduced to the real estate world as a young man buying and flipping homes with his grandfather. As his reputation and network grew, Bell formed his own firm and became the youngest practicing broker with Realtors in Pasadena. Though he enjoyed early success as a broker in his late 20s, Bell found himself unhappy with many aspects of his work. “In my journey, there were things that I didn’t like about the industry,” Bell says. “There were things that the industry told us we
needed to do, and when I started looking at the data with my real-world experience, I realized that a lot of it was not helpful to the homeowner. It actually had huge benefits for the real estate agent, and we are trained in our industry to use each client as an opportunity.” In contrast to much of the industry, Bell’s mantra was to work for the seller’s benefit, placing the client’s needs above his own. He went on to successfully handle nearly $500 million in sales as a top producer at Sotheby’s International Realty in Pasadena and be named in the top 0.1% of agents in the country by the Wall Street Journal, all while building strong relationships and lifelong friendships within his community. Bell found that by prioritizing the seller’s needs, he became more successful. Backed by over two decades of personal experience as well as statistics from the National Association of Realtors and California Association of Realtors, Bell shared his findings in his book, which hit No. 3 on the Wall Street Journal’s bestseller list in September, in the hopes of helping real estate agents and sellers around the world. One of the most damaging mistakes that Bell mentions in his book is finding an agent to sell a continued on page 12
Photo by Chris Mortenson
Pasadena’s Michael B. Bell is a top residential real estate broker at Sotheby’s International Realty. He successfully handled close to $500 million in sales and is ranked in the top 0.1% of all agents in the United States, according to The Wall Street Journal.
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